This invention relates generally to animal traps, especially traps for rodents. More particularly, this invention relates to an improved mousetrap that includes a trapping mechanism which can be set without risking bodily harm, a handle that is remote from a jaw of the trapping mechanism and that stands upright when the trapping mechanism is sprung, thereby providing means to discard a trapped, dead rodent while grasping the mousetrap at a location remote from the captured animal, and an advantageous exterior cover that provides benefits to be described hereinafter.
Various types of traps to catch and/or kill rodents are well known. Conventionally, mousetraps include a bar (or jaw) that is spring mounted and which pivots from a cocked position to a sprung position in response to the trap being tripped by an animal. Unfortunately, there are many disadvantages associated with conventional mousetraps.
First of all, the setting of conventional traps is often hazardous to the hands and fingers, since it is usually necessary to place the hands and fingers in the path of the spring mounted jaw during setting. Occasionally, the catch mechanism of prior traps is unreliable or difficult to secure, so that the catch mechanism releases the jaw to snap shut before the person setting the trap can remove all body portions from the hazardous path of the jaw. Other problems are also associated with prior catch mechanisms. A catch mechanism must be carefully configured or else it may be too sensitive to be usable or too insentive to respond to a rodent taking the bait on the trap.
Another problem frequently encountered with the use of prior animal traps, especially mousetraps, is that the release of the trapped animal from the trap is usually a messy, unsanitary, and difficult process. Normally this process involves grasping the jaw (or jaws) which has killed the animal and moving the jaw to release the animal from the trap. This entails the unsanitary act of touching the jaw in the vicinity of the dead animal and sometimes even requires touching the animal itself. Since rodents are noted carriers of germs and disease, it is completely undesirable to require a trap user to manipulate the trap in any way which places the user's hands in the area of the captured rodent. Moreover, because a captured rodent is usually severely injured, such a trapped animal usually present a gory sight that is not well-received by a squeamish user, such as a typical housewife. Thus, it would be desirable if one were to make available an improved mousetrap that includes means for substantially shielding a dead, trapped animal from the user's sight. Furthermore, an improved trap is needed whereby the captured animal can be disposed of without ever requiring one to touch either the dead animal or the trap areas in the immediate vicinity of the animal.
Yet another problem commonly associated with prior mousetraps is that many traps are flawed in that a way exists for a lucky rodent to remove the bait from the trap without tripping said trap. For this reason, an improved mousetrap is needed which not only remedies the other problems noted above, but which also limits an animal tempted by the bait to a single deadly path for advancing upon the bait, so that all attempts to snag the bait will result in a captured animal.
Finally, it is commonplace for prior traps to utilize a jaw arrangement wherein the jaw must travel 180 degrees along an arcuate path to move from a cocked (or set) position to a sprung (or shut) position. It would be desirable to provide an improved mousetrap that supplies solutions to the previously noted problems while also requiring its jaw to travel only 90 degrees to advance from a cocked position to a sprung position. Such an arrangement is desirable in that, the less distance the jaw must travel before trapping an animal, the quicker the trap will snap shut and thus, the less chance a rodent will have of escaping or surviving.
There exists, therefore, a significant need for an improved mousetrap that can be set without hazard to the user, that shields a captured animal from sensitive eyes while still providing an indication that the trap has sprung, and that allows disposal of the captured rodent in a sanitary way using a handle that is remote from the trap area holding the animal. Moreover, such an improved mousetrap is needed which limits animals to a single deadly path for advancing upon the bait and which also addresses the other problems noted above. In a relatively inexpensive fashion, the present invention fulfills these needs and provides further related advantages.